It's a Dog's Life
by suzie2b
Summary: Yes … yes it is.


**Disclaimer:** _ **The Rat Patrol**_ **is not my property. They come out to play sometimes, then I send them home.**

 **Author's note: A new category labeled "silly" should be added. :-)**

 **It's a Dog's Life**

 **By Suzie2b**

 **The small dog was digging deep into a trash bin behind a café. He was so engrossed with getting to whatever it was that smelled so yummy that he didn't realize anyone was there until the straw end of a broom swatted him on the butt. With a surprised yelp the dog pushed himself out of the trash bin and spun around to face the aggressor. It was Adra, wife of the café's owner. The straw came down on the dog's head as she yelled at him in Arabic. He knew better than to argue with the sizable woman so he hightailed it out of there.**

 **A while later the dog spotted a man on the street who had just purchased something that smelled good from a food vendor. He followed the man in hopes of picking up any crumbs that might fall. Then the man stopped at a bench. The dog watched him, his little doggy mind saying, "Sit! Sit! Sit!"**

 **The man sat and continued to eat his sausage stuffed croissants in the shade. He looked like a nice man, so the small dog decided to take a chance. He sat on his haunches in front of the man and looked up at him with his head cocked just so as he silently said, "Look at me. I'm cute." The man did look at him, and he even smiled. The dog begged, "Give me a bite. Please." The kind man gave up one of the croissants. The dog took it gently from the hand and scampered away with the treat. "Score!"**

 **#################**

 **The next morning found the small dog rummaging around behind the mess tent. He was careful to stay out of sight when one of the cook's men stepped out to throw something in a trash barrel. When the man went back inside the dog started sniffing around the barrel. "Hmm, scraps, scraps … lots of scraps." His musings were interrupted by a loud bark. The small dog looked up to see a much larger, angry looking dog looking back at him. Breakfast would have to wait.**

 **The chase was on! The large dog was determined to catch the small dog, but he wasn't as fast as he thought and the small dog pulled ahead as they ran into the motor pool with his mind yelling, "Hide! Hide! Hide!"**

 **The small dog spotted the two jeeps parked side-by-side and decided one of them would do fine. He scrambled onto the passenger seat and over into the back. With a little effort he got himself hid under a wool blanket. The big dog ran past the jeeps without a second look.**

 **The hoods were up on both jeeps as Hitch and Tully readied them for the trip back to their base at Ras Tanura. Tully heard an odd sound and straightened up to peer around the hood, half expecting Moffitt to be there … but he wasn't.**

 **Hitch looked at his friend and asked, "What's wrong?"**

 **Tully shrugged. "Nothing. Just thought I heard something in the jeep."**

 **#################**

 **They had driven most of the morning and decided to take a break in the shade of a waterhole. Tully started for the back of the jeep as he said, "Anyone else hungry?" Troy, Moffitt, and Hitch all agreed it was time for lunch. Tully moved a few things aside to get to the K-rations. As he reached for a blanket, it moved. He jumped, but then heard a muffled whimper. "What the…" Tully snatched the blanket and saw a small cowering dog looking back at him. His voice softened as he smiled and said, "Hey, what're you doing in here?"**

 **Hitch wandered over to see what was going on. He grinned as Tully picked up the dog. "We got us a hitchhiker."**

 **Troy looked at them with a slight frown. "A what?"**

 **Tully turned around with the dog in his arms. "He was hiding under one of the blankets."**

 **Troy shook his head with a slight smile. "Only you could find a dog in the back of a jeep, Tully"**

 **Hitch grabbed four boxes of K-rations, a can of spam, a mess kit, and a canteen then followed Tully over to where Troy and Moffitt sat under some trees.**

 **Tully sat down and put the shaking dog on the ground in front of him. "Don't know when he got into the jeep." He started scratching the dog around the ears and he soon calmed down.**

 **Hitch passed a box of food to the two sergeants before sitting down next to Tully and their new friend. "Think he's hungry?"**

" **I bet he is."**

 **Hitch handed the mess kit to Tully. "Get the plate out while I open this can of spam."**

 **Tully got the tin plate out and set it aside. Then he took the small pot and poured water from the canteen into it. The whole time the dog sat watching the two privates carefully. When Tully placed the water in front of the dog, he said, "There ya go, Chester. Have a drink."**

 **The small dog looked at him as if to ask, "What's a 'Chester'?" Then he sniffed at the liquid before drinking greedily.**

 **Moffitt grinned. "You just had to name him, didn't you?"**

 **Tully returned the grin as he stroked the dog's back. "He looks like a Chester to me."**

 **Hitch opened the can of meat and cut it into pieces with his knife before dumping it onto the plate. Chester got a whiff of the food and looked up from the pot of water. Tentatively, his tail began to wag. Hitch set the plate on the ground next to the water. "Bon appétit, Chester."**

 **The dog sniffed at the food. "Yummy!" And he dived in hungrily.**

 **As they all ate, Troy watched the dog and asked, "What are you going to do with him?"**

 **Tully shrugged. "I guess take him with us and find a home for him."**

" **And what happens if we meet up with a German column?"**

 **Hitch smiled. "When Moffitt gets in the back to man the 50, Chester can take his seat."**

 **The dog looked at his new friends curiously. "Why do they look at me whenever they say 'Chester'?"**

 **Before Troy could make a comment, Moffitt chuckled. "Well, we can't leave him here, so I guess we'll have to make the best of it."**

 **They stayed long enough to eat, replenish their water supply, and gas up the jeeps. Tully got in behind the wheel and looked at the dog sitting several yards away. "Come on, Chester. Time to go."**

 **Moffitt got into the passenger seat. "I don't think he knows his name yet."**

 **Chester blinked and wagged his tail. "Name? He gave me a name?"**

 **Tully said, "Yeah, that's your name. Come on, Chester."**

" **I've got a name! I've never had a name before!" With an excited bark, Chester ran to leap onto Tully's lap.**

 **The private lifted Chester into the back of the jeep. "Good boy. You just stay back here for now."**

 **#################**

 **They spent the night in a wadi. While Tully was on watch Chester slept curled next to Hitch. When it was Hitch's turn on watch he slept with Tully.**

 **The first thing Tully noticed when he began to wake up in the morning was a smell. All four of them had showered before they left the base at Ariha the day before, so he knew it wasn't him. When Tully cracked open his eyes he found Chester lying next to him with his head on Tully's chest watching him with dark eyes. He wrinkled his nose at the dog and said, "You stink."**

 **Chester thumped his tail against Tully's side. "What? I always smell like this."**

 **Tully rolled to his knees and stood up. "Okay, we gotta do something about this." Troy, Moffitt, and Hitch watched with amusement as Chester followed Tully to the jeep, where the private dug through his things until he found a bar of soap wrapped in plastic. The dog then followed Tully to the well, not expecting what was about to happen.**

 **A bar of soap and many buckets of water later—along with complaints from both man and beast—Chester was cleaner than he'd ever been before. Tully nodded with satisfaction even though the front of his shirt and pants were soaked. "There … feel better?"**

 **Water flew as Chester shook. He growled and huffed unhappily. "It took** _ **forever**_ **to get myself just right! Now I have to start all over."**

 **Tully watched Chester walk away and said, "And don't you dare roll in the dirt … or anything else for that matter!"**

 **Chester turned his head to glare at Tully, then heard Hitch call, "Breakfast's ready! Come and get it, Chester!"**

 **The indignities of the bath were forgotten as the small dog ran excitedly for his meal. For the first time in his life Chester was hungry, but not starving.**

 **##################**

 **As they drove through allied territory in the general direction of Ras Tanura, Chester lay sprawled across Moffitt's lap. The sergeant smiled as he stroked the dog's head and back. He looked at Tully and asked, "Are you going to keep him?"**

 **Tully twirled the matchstick around in his mouth and glanced at Chester. "Wish I could. But Charley and I aren't around enough to take care of him."**

" **That's true."**

" **What he needs is a family with kids he can play with."**

 **Moffitt thought about it for a while, then suddenly said, "I've got an idea."**

 **##################**

 **Tully led the way onto the winery's property. "We've never been here before."**

" **I've known Zavier since before the war got here. My father and I would occasional stay here while in the area on fossil hunts and such."**

 **The jeeps stopped in the courtyard of a stately manor that overlooked a vast winery—an oasis in the desert. Hitch got out of his jeep and said, "Wow, nice place."**

 **Moffitt waited for Chester to jump off his lap before he got out of the jeep. "Zavier has been quite successful and very lucky that the war hasn't done much damage to the estate. Even the Germans purchase wine from him."**

 **An older gentleman exited the house and stood on the porch. "What can I do for you?" He suddenly recognized the sergeant and a grin filled his face, making his eyes twinkle. "Jack Moffitt! It has been a long time, my friend!"**

 **Moffitt went to the man with an extended hand and a smile. "It has indeed been awhile, Zavier. Good to see you."**

" **Your father is well?"**

" **Yes, quite well."**

 **Zavier turned and called to his wife, "Imani! Come see who it is!"**

 **After greetings and introductions, Moffitt said, "I must ask a favor of you and Imani."**

 **Zavier's expression sobered a bit as he said, "You only need to ask."**

 **Moffitt smiled and looked down at the small dog sitting on Tully's booted feet. "Chester here needs a home."**

 **Zavier's smile returned as he too looked at the dog with raised eyebrows. "Chester?"**

 **Tully said, "He stowed away in the jeep when we left Ariha. Didn't know he was there until it was too late to go back."**

 **Imani said, "He is a skinny little thing."**

" **He must've been a stray. I gave him a bath this morning … not that he appreciated it."**

 **Chester looked up at Tully. "I've forgiven you."**

 **Zavier said, "You are in luck, my friend. Just a week ago we lost our old hound. He'd become very old and didn't wake up one day. The children miss him."**

 **The three youngest of Zavier and Imani's six children stood shyly in the doorway.**

 **Tully said, "Chester seems to have a good temperament. He's been real friendly with us."**

 **Imani turned and smiled at the children. "Come and meet Chester."**

 **The children, ages six to nine slowly walked out to stand with their parents. The six-year-old was the first to go to Chester. As she reached out to the small dog, he cowered slightly and pushed himself against Tully's legs.**

 **Tully knelt down and rubbed Chester's chest. "It's okay, boy. She just want to be friends with you."**

 **Chester carefully sniffed the small innocent fingers. His tail began to wag and he pushed his head against the child's hand. "Pet me!"**

 **The little girl giggled as she began to stroke the dog's face and head. The other two children joined in and Chester was soon playfully chasing the squealing, laughing youngsters around the courtyard.**

 **#################**

 **After taking time to visit and share a noontime meal, Zavier presented Troy, Moffitt, Hitch, and Tully with bottles of his wine. Troy shook the winery owner's hand as he said, "Thank you, Zavier. This is an unexpected gift that we'll all enjoy."**

 **They all walked outside and Tully said, "Thanks for taking Chester in. He's going to be real happy here."**

 **He watched his children with the dog for a moment, then Zavier said, "I can see he is already a welcomed part of the family."**

 **Imani stepped up to Moffitt, took his hand, and said, "Thank you for thinking of us."**

 **Troy, Moffitt, Hitch and Tully thanked their hosts and said their good-byes before getting into their jeeps. As the engines roared to life, Chester appeared from around a corner, barking crazily as he zipped across the courtyard as if yelling, "Wait! Wait! Wait!"**

 **With a flying leap, Chester landed in Tully's arms with his tail wagging so hard it made the horn beep a few times. The small dog started licking Tully's face and the private said, "Sorry, boy. You can't come with us. This is your new home now."**

 **Chester stood there on Tully's lap, his front paws on Tully's chest so he could look him in the eye. "This is a good place! I want to stay!"**

 **Tully saw something in those dark, shiny eyes that told him everything was going to be fine. He smiled and ruffled Chester's ears. "You have a family now. You're going to do great."**

 **The children began calling Chester's name. The dog turned his head to look at them, then back at Tully. Chester gave him one final lick on the nose. "I will remember you forever." Then the small dog jumped down and ran off with the children.**

 **Moffitt grinned. "Chester gets to live a real dog's life now."**

 **Tully watched Chester and his new humans for a moment, then smiled. "That's the way it should be. He'll be happy here."**

 **And as they drove away, they could hear Chester's delighted barking in the background.**


End file.
